Wrath of Callisto
by TwilightBoi23
Summary: AU of Maternal Instincts. Without Hope. Callisto plans to ruin the treaty, but discovers that Xena has another reason for being there. Does not constrain to just Maternal Instincts


_**I do not own Xena: Warrior Princess, therefore I do not own any characters that I mention that have been on Xena or any program affiliated with it. I do, however, own any characters that I may make up. This is set around the time of Maternal Instincts. I'll keep some of the plot, but most of it will probably be changed. It is AU and won't be constrained to just Maternal Instincts. It will also continue on in it's own story eventually. For starters Hope won't be in it. Flames will be ignored. Enjoy.**_

Xena walked with Gabrielle through the forest, walking Argo as Gabrielle wrote down their latest adventure down on a scroll. Gabrielle, not watching where she was going, accidentally tripped over a root that was standing up out of the ground. Xena instantly grabbed the young bard's arm, saving her from falling over.

"If you are going to write while you walk, could you at least _attempt _to focus some of your attention on watching where you're walking? I already have to worry about making sure this treaty goes well, I don't need to be worrying about your clumsiness, too."

Gabrielle shrugged, "I'm sorry, Xena. I'll just stop writing so that I won't trip. And then no one will hear about the good you do. They'll remember all of the evil deeds, instead." The bard said with a smile.

"It's not about making sure that people hear about the good that I'm doing, Gabrielle. You know that. I just…I'm sorry. I'm just stressed out about all of this. Look," She put on a smile, "the village is up ahead."

The two friends walked into the village, both taking in the different look that it had, compared to the last time they were there.

"Remember how it looked the last time we were here? What a difference a year makes, huh?" Gabrielle asked her leather clad friend with a smile.

Xena returned the genuine smile, "One year, two months, and twelve days-but who's counting?"

"It'll be fine, Xena."

The Warrior Princess looked at the bard, "After all that Kaleipus has done to make this happen, I certainly hope so."

"I didn't mean the treaty." Gabrielle said. Xena held up her finger and looked around.

"Ahh!!"

Xena swiftly turned and caught the light haired boy that had jumped from the tree she was near.

"Solan! Solan, you dirty rat!" Xena smiled, ruffling his hair.

"I nearly had you!" Solan replied.

Xena chuckled and draped her arm around her son's shoulders, turning to Gabrielle, "Hey, Gabrielle, what do ya think? Some tracker, huh?"

She smiled, "Very impressive."

"Alright, well enough stalling. Solan, why don't you lead us to Kaleipus, huh?"

Solan smiled and nodded, racing with Gabrielle towards the village. Xena looked at Argo.

"I know. Kids…what're you gonna do?" Argo whinnied, "Don't even start with that if you want those apples for lunch."

==================(S)====================

A few centaurs are kicking around a ball with a few other children. One of them kicks the ball far over near the edge of a cliff. A little black haired girl runs after it, watching as it rolls over and falls off. She runs to the edge and watches as it bounces onto the dried up lava bed. It cracks, steam and flames rushing out.

The girl backs away, her blue eyes wide as the flames shoot up higher and a blonde haired woman, dressed in leather, jumps out, looking around. She turns to the girl and smiles.

"A child…I've always wanted a child."

=================(S)====================

"Kaleipus, I need you to know that nothing's changed. I didn't come back for Solan. I know that he deserves to know who his mother is, but he's better off not knowing."

The centaur looked at Xena, confused, "And how did you reach that assumption?"

Xena pursed her lips, but kept her ground, "Kaleipus, years ago when I gave Solan to you, I told you that if he stayed with me that he would be a target for my enemies. That's why I wanted you to raise him here. I stood by it then and I stand by it now. If he finds out that he is my son, he will want to come with me. And then he _will _be a target in every situation that I fall into and he will face every reason that I had for leaving him here in the first place."

"I doubt that there is a moment where you could not handle a child."

"As a matter of fact, I can. Kaleipus, Gabrielle and I have been through Tartarus and back these few years that we have traveled together, and if you think that I want to pull Solan into that then you have another thing coming."

Suddenly, as if the Fates had changed this man's destiny to prevent Xena from going at Kaleipus' throat, one of the guards ran into Kaleipus' hut.

"Kaleipus…you need to see this."

Xena looked at the man, "What is it? What's wrong?"

He looked at Xena, "Follow me."

=============(S)=================

Xena, Kaleipus, and the guards stood in front of the totems. Two guards were skewered on them, and in between the two totems, tied to them, was the scorched body of a black haired, blue eyed girl. Her dead eyes forever holding that last emotion that she had ever felt-terror.

"By the Gods, I want whatever group was responsible for this." Kaleipus said.

Xena shook her head, "This wasn't done by a group of men. Look at the ground, nothing's been disturbed."

Kaleipus pointed to the corpses, "Try telling that to them. Was it the Gods? Ares, perhaps?"

"No, there's no big battle or war that could lead from this. Whoever did this relished it. Unless the impossible has happened, we are in for a lot of trouble."

"Xena?" Gabrielle walked up to her best friend, standing by her side as she looked at the totems. She covered her mouth, "By the Gods…"

Xena gave her friend a look of sympathy, "I know."

"Xena, who could do such a thing?"

"Gabrielle, there is only one person we know who would relish something like this. Callisto."

"But, Xena…Callisto's trapped in the lava. Besides, how could you be so sure it was her?"

Xena exhaled deeply, "Gabrielle, look at the girl. She has been burned-badly. Does she remind you of anyone?"

Gabrielle walked closer to the girl, squinting slightly as she tried to picture her without being burnt. Then her eyes grew from recognition, "She looks like…"

Xena nodded, "Yes, like me. I told you about Cirra. My army burned the village and the people inside of it. This is Callisto getting her revenge with her new powers. It's her calling card. She's letting me know that she's free and she's going to stop this treaty."

"But, Xena, how could Callisto know this?"

"All she had to do was ask the guards before she killed them. Gabrielle, I need you to talk to Ephiny. Tell her to get everyone's children gathered together and let them know not to be running around so freely. Tell them to stay within the village, and not to go into any open fields or into the forest under any circumstances."

She turned to the centaur, "Kaleipus, I need you to rally up a defense. Get all of the best warriors; let them know that we have trouble. We may not be able to kill a god, but we can definitely slow her down."

"What about-"

"I'll deal with him, Kaleipus." Xena had a feeling Callisto was close. She didn't need her overhearing anything about Solan. She stayed behind as everyone walked away, turning back to look at the totems, "Alright, I know you're here. Show yourself."

"I always knew you could do that," Ares materialized, walking over to Xena, his hand resting on his sword, which rested by his waist, "So, there's a peace treaty going on and Callisto's bent on stopping that. Think about it, Xena-she's not entirely evil. Everything she does is in some way linked to you."

"You think that I don't already know this, Ares? Why don't you spare me the terrible acting and cut to the chase?"

Ares let out a sigh, "Alright, fine. Xena, what could stopping this treaty have to do with you personally? Absolutely nothing…except for one thing. Solan. I don't know what the connection between the two of you is, but I can definitely tell that it'll be worth something to Callisto. And it's only a matter of time before she sees it, too."

Xena scowled at the God of War, "You don't know what you're talking about, Ares."

The god smirked, "Alright, suit yourself. But when you're ready to talk-"

"I'll be sure to question my sanity." She watched Ares disappear and rolled her eyes. She pulled her sword out and cut the ropes that were holding the girl up. She then pulled the two guards down and looked at them.

"No matter what I do, Gabrielle, my past will always cost those around me their lives."

The bard walked up to Xena's side, resting her hand on her friend's armored shoulder, "This isn't your fault, Xena. Callisto chose to do this. You cannot let this eat at you again. Don't pin all of this on yourself, Xena."

"Gabrielle, if she hurts Solan-"

"She won't. We have dealt with Callisto before and we'll do it again. We will not let her get anywhere near him."

Callisto stood a little ways into the forest, watching the two friends talk. She smirked, her plan working out perfectly, "So, Xena's here because of a little brat. Well, that makes things interesting. I'll have to look into that." She laughed, stopping and turning around when she heard a twig break, "Hello there, little boy."

The boy turned to run away.

"No, no. Don't run away," She said as she appeared in front of him, smiling down at him, "I won't kill you if you promise to deliver a message to Xena for me. You will do that, won't you?"

The boy nodded slightly, unable to move out of fear.

Callisto smiled, "Goodie."

She bent down and whispered in his ear and then stood back up again. He began to run away, "Oh, and one more thing," She pulled out her sword, screaming as she swung it down, severing the boy's hand from his arm. She laughed, "Need a hand with that?" She laughed more as he ran off, crying and screaming.

"Oh, don't fall to pieces over it!" She picked up the bloodied hand, inspecting it before holding it up, the boy far gone, "You forgot something! Children…always leaving toys-and body parts- lying around. Tsk tsk."

_**Alright, so I'm going to stop this here for now. Please review and let me know what you think. **_


End file.
